The Woman Owned Small Business Certification (WOSB) is designed to authorize government contracting officers to set aside specific contracts for competition solely amongst WOSBs or Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs). The main difference between these types of businesses is that EDWOSBs are owned by Economically Disadvantaged women. The Small Business Administration defines “Economic Disadvantage” as having  a personal net worth of less than $750,000 adjusted gross yearly income averaged over the three years not exceeding $350,000, and the fair market value of all assets not exceeding $6 million. Businesses certified as EDWOSBs qualify for extra funding and may be selected in smaller set-aside solicitations pools than businesses certified as WOSBs. Contracting Officers must meet annual contracting goals by specifically limiting or setting aside certain solicitations for WOSBs or EDWOSBs.

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Federal Government must award 5% (roughly $25 billion) of its Prime and Subcontracting dollars to WOSBs and EDWOSBs. In 2012, a little over $9 billion was awarded to WOSBs over nearly 180,000 Federal Contracts. Due to the newly signed “National Defense Authorization Act of 2013”, WOSBs now have uncapped contracting potential allowing Government Contracting Officers to award contracting dollars above the original “Small Business Act” limitations. These uncapped contracts are valid to any and all WOSBs and EDWOSBs that are currently registered in the System for Award Management (SAM).

Benefits of a Woman Owned Certification (WOSB):

·         5% of all Federal Monetary fund’s per year must be spent across WOSB certified businesses

·         Having a WOSB Certification creates significant  contracting opportunities for women  entrepreneurs as Government Contracting Officers              have Federally Mandated quotas to meet

·         Opens doors as a subcontractor with businesses needing the WOSB  Certificate on a bid proposal

·         Opens opportunities to contracting directly with Prime Contracting Officers

·         Organization is listed in the ONLY database vendors can advertise their Certification, which is also the only database the Government                      utilizes to locate such vendors (especially for “No-Bid Contracts”)

·         On Average WOSB Set-a-Side Contracts have up to an 8% higher Net Profit than most contracts

Eligibility Requirements:

·         Businesses must be 51% or greater owned by a woman; the woman must be a US Citizen

·         Daily operations management must be by a woman

·         The highest officer position must be held by a woman

·         The woman must manage the business full-time & must devote full-time hours to the management of the business

·         The woman has ultimate and supervisory control

·         Primary NAICS Codes selection must fall within 1 of the 217 WOSB set-aside NAICs